# signifer
## English
### Etymology

From Latin signifer , from signum (“sign”) + ferō (“to bear”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsɪɡnɪfə(ɹ)/

### Adjective

signifer (not comparable)
* (obsolete) Bearing signs.
** 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:the circle called Signifer, or the Zodiake

### Noun

signifer (plural signifers)
* Something that indicates or signifies; a sign, symbol, or codeword.
** 1981, Jan Marie Lambert Peters, Pictorial Signs and the Language of Film, page 40:In other words: the advertiser creates a new sign of which the signifier consists of the happy face and the signified can be defined as "using this product makes (you) happy"..
** 2013, Walter Benn Michaels, The Shape of the Signifier: 1967 to the End of History, page 60:Hence the commitment to the primacy of the materiality of the signifier ( to shape ) is also a commitment to the primacy of experience ( to the subject position ) . Because what something looks like must be what it looks like to someone , the appeal to the shape of the signifier is at the same time an appeal to the position and hence to the identity of its interpreter.
** 2013, Lucy Koechlin, Corruption as an Empty Signifier, page 252:Although 'corruption' is still a dominant signifier in the public realm, it has all but disappeared from the public articulations of professional associations.

### Anagrams

* fringies, Feringis, fire sign

## Latin
### Etymology

From signum (“sign”) +‎ -fer (“carrying”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈsiɡ.ni.fer/, [ˈs̠ɪŋnɪfɛr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈsiɲ.ɲi.fer/, [ˈsiɲːifer]

### Adjective

signifer (feminine signifera, neuter signiferum); first/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er)
* sign-bearing, image-bearing,
* bearing the heavenly signs or constellations, starry
    "sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam." (But may the sign-bearer, Saint Michael, lead them into the holy light)

#### Declension

First/second-declension adjective (nominative masculine singular in -er).

#### Descendants

* Catalan: signífer
* Spanish: signífero

### Noun

signifer m (genitive signiferī); second declension
* standard-bearer, sign-bearer, ensign
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.585–586:signa, decus bellī, Parthus Rōmāna tenēbat, Rōmānaeque aquilae signifer hostis erat.The Roman [military] standards – the glory of war – a Parthian was holding, and the standard-bearer of the Roman eagle was an enemy. (See: Phraates V; aquilifer; signifer.)
* leader, chief
* the sky, heavens

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er).

#### Descendants

* Catalan: signífer
* Italian: signifero
* Portuguese: signífero

### References

* “signifer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “signifer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* signifer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. the zodiac: orbis signifer